minimill

[min-ee-mil]

noun

1. a small mill or manufacturing plant, especially a steel plant that utilizes electric furnaces to melt down scrap for producing its products.

Word History and Origins

Origin of minimill¹

First recorded in 1970–75; mini- + mill ¹

Example Sentences

“Big steelmakers everywhere are finding that the economies of scale that helped them prevail since Andrew Carnegie’s day no longer favor them,” I wrote in February 1993, noting that some expected Nucor, the leading minimill, to replace U.S.

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A modern steel mill, called a minimill, for example, is mostly automated and needs a fraction of the workers needed at an older mill.

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The reason was a new technology called the minimill.

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MiniMill Technologies Inc. of Syracuse, New York, Fibre Technologies of Reading, Pennsylvania, and Mumbai-based Kejriwal Singapore International have said they want to buy the facility and resume production.

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In the case of steel, Lepore points out that Christensen never mentions unions, which were a huge difference between the older firms and the newer companies whose “minimill” facilities he points to as the agent of disruption.

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